When it started
by vespertine dreams
Summary: For the AU challenge on Sirens fic on LJ. Ash and Rachid work together as ambulance crew, and Stuart is a bloke that Ash picks up online. When their paths keep crossing, Ash finds his life taking a turn he hadn't expected. Slash- Ash/Stuart.


When it started

"So, what are you up to tonight?" Rachid asked as he and Ashley collected their things from their lockers. "We could go to the pub if you like."

Ash grinned. "Sorry. I've got plans."

"Another one of your mail order playthings? You know, you could try doing this the way normal people do, and actually go to a bar and pick someone up," Rachid pointed out.

"Why? This way, I tell them exactly what I want beforehand and there's none of that awkward small talk and buying them drinks."

Rachid laughed and shook his head. "I think I've been working with you for too long 'cos that actually made sense." He slammed his locker shut. "See you tomorrow."

Ashley made his way home, pondering what Rachid had said. He'd tried the whole 'go to a bar and pick up a bloke' thing and it never ended well. Either he got the total arseholes or the ones just like him. No, it just didn't work. His way was so much easier than going through all that social stuff when all he wanted was a shag. It didn't stop Rachid nagging him about it, though. Rachid had been partnered with him since training, first as a ride-along on his probation and then staying on as Ashley's partner, and he'd only told Rachid about his 'mail order playthings', as Rachid liked to call them, by accident. He'd been trying to stop Rachid setting him up with a bloke he knew and the only way out of it was to say he was busy. Which then led to the 'where did you meet' questions, and Ash had said 'online'.

Maybe he should have just made something up.

He reached his front door and stopped short, his key in his hand. Shit. There was a bloke sitting on his doorstep. Stu, the site had said, but whether or not that was his real name remained to be seen. When he saw Ash approach, he stood.

"You're late."

Ashley stared at him in disbelief. "I think you'll find that I'm not. It's not half past seven yet."

"You said half past six," the bloke corrected in a tone that suggested he wasn't used to being told he was wrong.

"No, I said I don't get _home_ until half past six."

For that, he got a smug grin. "So, you're late. It's six forty two."

Ashley was torn between the urge to slap the guy or invite him in. After all, he was nice looking, in an irritatingly smug sort of way, and he'd seemed okay online. Besides, they were attracting the attentions of his nosy old biddy of a neighbour; he could see the curtains twitching two houses away. He unlocked his door.

"Are you going to stand around and bitch all night or do you want to come in?"

There was a moment's pause and then a smile as he followed Ash inside.

"I'm Ashley, by the way."

"Stuart."

Stuart watched Ash as he dumped his work bag in the corner of the kitchen, leaning on the door frame, arms folded, his eyes following each movement.

"Do you like Chinese food?" Ash asked, picking up the phone.

"You do realise that you don't have to feed me, don't you?" Stuart pointed out. "I came here to fuck."

Ashley shrugged his shoulders. "Do you have somewhere else to be?" When Stuart shook his head, he continued. "Right, well, since I just got home," and you were early, he added silently, not voicing it as he didn't want to start another argument, "I'm going to feed myself. If you're not hungry, you don't have to join me."

"I never said that," Stuart told him quickly. He waited patiently until Ashley called his order in, telling him what he liked from the menu, and took the phone from him as soon as Ashley hung up.

Ash found himself pressed against the kitchen door, Stuart's body pinning him there.

"So, how are we going to pass the time until the food gets here?" he asked, his face only inches from Ashley's.

"You tell me."

Stuart grinned. "You like being bossed around, don't you? How about if I order you to get on your knees and suck me? Well, go on then."

Ash nodded, the familiar rush running through him as Stuart told him what to do. Looked like he'd made the right choice letting the guy in after all, he thought. Stuart stepped back to give him room to move, and Ash slowly sank to his knees on the kitchen floor. His face was level with Stuart's groin and he could see the outline of his hard cock behind the denim. As he unfastened the jeans and dragged them and the boxers underneath down to Stuart's thighs, he smiled. Oh, he _definitely_ made the right choice.

"Hey, you don't have to if you don't want- Bloody hell!"

Stuart's fingers threaded through his hair as Ash's lips closed around his cock, taking him in almost all the way on the first try. He moved slowly back, using his tongue to tease. Glancing up, he saw the smile on Stuart's face, so different from the slightly sarcastic one from earlier. Ash felt the fingers pull on his hair and he took the hint and got to work.

~.~

The following morning at work, Ash was just cramming his things into his locker when Rachid wandered in. He looked Ash over and smirked.

"Good night, was it?"

Ash nodded. "Yes thanks."

Rachid threw his bag into his locker, hanging up his coat and following Ash out of the locker room, ignoring his friend's attempt to escape from this conversation.

"So was this one a macho-type? You said you like blokes who boss you around in bed."

Ashley sighed as he sat down in the back of the briefing room, waiting for the daily do's and don'ts before they could go and get on with their jobs. Why the bloody hell had he ever told Rachid anything about this? No, wait: Alcohol. _That_ was why he'd told Rachid. One beer too many while he was commiserating another of Rachid's failed attempts at keeping a girlfriend a few months ago, when Rachid had asked him what was so great about blokes. The conversation had then descended into a number of nosy questions about exactly why getting shagged by a bloke was so good in Ash's opinion. To this day, Ash was convinced that the other man was curious enough that if Ash had made a move on him that night, Rachid wouldn't have said no.

"Why?"

"Just showing an interest," Rachid told him, the smile still tugging at his lips.

"Yeah, well, be careful or I might tell you the whole thing in great detail," Ash replied. "Or maybe that's what you want…"

Rachid opened his mouth to say something when the sound of clapping hands meant that their briefing was about to begin. Ashley sprawled in his chair, only half listening as his thoughts drifted back to last night. Stuart had been a bossy little thing, not so much telling him what to do because Ash had asked him to, but more that he just didn't sound as though he expected anyone to argue with him. They'd eaten, making conversation, but as soon as they'd finished Ash was manhandled off the sofa.

"So which way's your bed?" Stuart asked. "Unless you want to fuck on the sofa?"

Anywhere would have been fine, Ash thought. Damn, that had been a good night. He had a rule never to call the same bloke twice from the sites, though, and he had no intention of breaking it however tempting Stuart might be. Besides, he'd already seen a sexy rugby-playing blonde that grabbed his attention.

~.~

_(One week later)_

The call came in about ten minutes from the end of shift: All available ambulances, police and fire rescue were already attending. Ashley wished for a moment that the call had just come in a half hour later, when he'd be gone. It was looking to be a long night. House fires were bad, but this was a warehouse that had been converted to luxury flats, which meant more victims and more chance of fatalities.

By the time they arrived the fire crews were already working to get the blaze in the top west side of the building under control but it didn't seem to be working. The flames were still spreading, seemingly unaffected by the water jets from the hoses directed at them. A small crowd of people were gathered around, some watching with morbid fascination while others wiped at smoke-blackened faces, watching as another window shattered with the heat of the fire. There was one other ambulance there, a woman sitting in the back with an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth while, beside her, another man lay on the stretcher as the paramedic checked him over. Even from here, Ash could see the burns on his hands and face.

"Maxine, where do you want us?" he asked, seeing a familiar face among the police presence.

Maxine indicated to the main doors. "Rescue just went in; they saw someone at a second floor window a few minutes ago."

Rachid nodded. "Ash, you wait. I'm going to help out with the walking wounded. Give me a shout when they come out."

He set off toward the other ambulance where the people who had already got out were milling around, not really sure what to do with themselves. Some were coughing from the smoke but other than that, they'd got off lightly.

Ash waited with Maxine near the doors, seeing the figures emerge a few minutes later, one with a man over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Calling to Rachid, he hurried over to them with the stretcher.

"He's out cold but I think it's just smoke," one of the firemen told him. "Found him in the hallway."

He lay the man on the gurney carefully, helping Rachid to wheel him back toward the ambulance and out of the danger zone near the flats.

"What's that?" Ash asked, seeing the bundle wrapped in a grubby blanket in the second fireman's arms and dreading the answer. It was about baby-sized but it wasn't moving…

"We found him," the fireman said, indicating to Rachid's patient, "hanging onto this."

He opened the blanket to reveal a trembling, black and white Cocker Spaniel puppy. It looked up at Ash with wide, terrified eyes, shying away from him.

"What do you want us to do with it? We can call the RSPCA."

Ash looked at the dog again and he just couldn't do it. The man currently lying on the stretcher, unconscious and being treated by Rachid, had risked his life to rescue that puppy. He couldn't just pass it off to some complete strangers at an animal shelter. He went over to check on their patient.

Rachid nodded. "He'll be fine. I can't see anything on him except soot, no burns, and his vitals are pretty stable. He looks like he's starting to come around."

Ash leaned over to look. "Oh shit. Stuart?"

The fireman still holding the puppy frowned. "You know him?"

"Yes. His name is Stuart Bayldon. He's… he's a friend."

There was a shout from one of the others on the crew and the fireman handed Ash the bundle, telling him it was his problem now.

"Right, we should get him back to the hospital and get him checked out properly," he said, seeing that the other ambulance had already gone and another had arrived.

"And what about the dog?"

Ash took it and set it down in the passenger side footwell of the ambulance, where it huddled down into the blanket. "I'm taking it with us."

Rachid rolled his eyes as they loaded Stuart into the back, Rachid staying with him as Ash drove.

By the time they got there, Stuart was awake, though his voice still sounded rough and he was coughing thanks to the amount of smoke he'd inhaled.

"Charlie?"

"What's that, mate?"

Stuart cleared his throat. "Where's Charlie?" he asked again, struggling against Rachid's hands as he tried to stop his patient sitting up.

"Is Charlie the dog? Hey, calm down, he's in the front and he's fine." As Stuart began to relax again, Rachid put the oxygen mask back over his nose, telling him to leave it where it was. "Your name's Stuart, right? We're taking you to hospital; you've breathed in a lot of smoke. Listen, don't mention the dog, will you? We shouldn't really have brought him in the ambulance but since you're a friend of Ash's…"

"Ash?"

In the driver's seat, Ashley was relieved to see the hospital gates just up ahead, announcing to his passengers that they were. They pulled up moments later, handing Stuart off to the doctor and nurses waiting for him before making their way toward the ambulance bay since their shift had ended nearly an hour and a half ago. They wouldn't need to go back to the fire as Rescue were sure that everyone was out, the other ambulance crew taking the last casualty. Which also meant that Ash had to get the puppy out of the ambulance without anyone noticing, before another crew took over.

He ended up wrapping the puppy back up in its blanket and taking it with them to the lockers.

"What are you going to do with it?" Rachid asked him, looking to where it sat in the corner while Ash got changed and collected his things. He smiled. "It is kind of cute."

Ash glanced across at it. "It can go back to Stuart as soon as they release him. In the meantime, I'll take it home with me."

"You? Wow, this Stuart bloke must be pretty important to you." Rachid laughed. "So how do you know him anyway? I've never heard you mention him before."

Yes, you have, Ashley thought, I just didn't mention his name. He stayed quiet, though. What was he supposed to say? _'__Actually__he__came__over__for__a__shag__about__a__week__ago__and__I__liked__him,__and__now__I__can__'__t__seem__to__get__my__mind__off__him__'__._Maybe not.

"It's not like that," he protested. "Look at the poor little thing; I can't just leave it for some stranger to take away." Not that it had ever met him before either but that was beside the point. "Here, can you take him outside for me? I'm just going to nip in and see how Stuart is doing. Oh, and put him down for a bit. Little fella must be bursting by now."

At that, Rachid's smile faded and he looked down at the dog. "If you pee on me while I'm carrying you, I'll have to rethink the whole 'cute' thing."

~.~

Ash stood outside the curtain, wondering if this was such a good idea. He'd met the man once after picking him up off an internet site, for goodness' sake. If not for the blaze today, he probably would never have seen Stuart again and neither of them would have done anything to change that.

_For__fuck__'__s__sake,__just__grow__a__pair__and__go__in,_ he told himself, pulling back the curtain at the same time. Now there was no turning back. And if Stuart really didn't remember him, then he could just say he was checking up on his patient, couldn't he?

As he pulled the curtain aside to go in, Stuart looked up. For a moment, he frowned and Ash thought he didn't recognise him. It surprised him just how much that hurt. Then he saw the recognition in Stuart's eyes as he looked over his uniform, partially covered by his jacket.

"You're a paramedic."

Ash smiled self-consciously. "Yes. I just came to see how you were doing."

"So when the other bloke said 'Ash', in the ambulance, he was talking about you, wasn't he?"

Ash nodded. "I brought you in. I thought you'd want to know that your dog is okay, if a bit freaked out. I was going to take him home with me until they let you out but if there's someone you want me to call to look after him, I can."

"There isn't. Are you sure you don't mind taking him? He is house trained."

"I don't mind," Ash told him. "So how are you doing?"

Stuart smiled. "Just breathed in a bit too much smoke but they say I'll be fine. They're keeping me overnight for observation but I can go tomorrow morning."

Thinking back to what he'd said earlier, the question was on the tip of Ash's tongue. Don't say it, don't say it…

"Do you have anywhere to stay when you leave here?" Bugger, he'd said it. Still, when he saw the miserable look on Stuart's face as he did, he knew the answer. The fire crews weren't going to let anyone back into the flats for a while.

"Hotel," Stuart replied. "The fire had reached my flat when I grabbed Charlie and ran, so I doubt there's much left. I'll have to find a hotel until the insurance company decides to pay up, however long that takes." He paused, looking up at Ash. "It might be a while before I can take Charlie back; most hotels won't allow pets."

Just as he'd thought. Stuart had said he had no one who could take the dog, which meant no one who could take him in either.

"Look, I've got a spare room if you want it."

Stuart just looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you doing this? You barely know me. First you offer to look after Charlie and then offer me a place to stay; is this the part where you tell me I can pay in kind? You expect me to fuck you because I'm so grateful?"

"No! You know what, Stuart, you can go fuck _yourself_ if that's what you think," Ash snapped, running his fingers through his hair as he tried to calm himself down. Was that really how he came across, as someone who would prey on a man who'd just lost his home, taking advantage of him? "I'll look after the dog until you can take him back," he said, turning away without looking at Stuart again. "I wouldn't- I was just offering to help, that's all, because you seemed like a nice bloke the other night."

"Ashley-"

Ash left, not waiting to hear what he wanted to say and headed for the car park to look for Rachid. He found the other man across the street, sitting on a bench with the puppy on his lap and being chatted up by a blonde in a barely-there skirt. The woman was cooing over Charlie, and Rachid was happily letting her assume that the dog was his. With a wicked smile on his face, Ash walked over to them; it was mean, but he couldn't resist.

"There you are, sweetie; I was looking for you," he said, sitting down next to Rachid. He gave Charlie a scratch behind his ear before looking to the woman as though he'd only just noticed her. "Oh, hi. I'm Ash."

The woman glanced between them and backed away, saying her goodbyes and looking quite embarrassed about flirting with Rachid. Rachid watched her walk away with a sigh and then glared at Ash.

"Did you have to do that? She was hot." He paused, then frowned. "Sweetie?"

Ash smiled innocently. "I was talking to Charlie."

"Sure you were." Rachid handed him the dog. "Here; I put him down to pee but I didn't want to let him wander as I'm not sure how old he is. You're not supposed to let them out until they've had all of their inoculations."

Another thing he should probably have asked Stuart, Ash thought, but there was no way he was going back in there to ask now.

"So, how is the mysterious Stuart?" Rachid continued.

"A pillock. Don't ask," he said, seeing that very question on Rachid's lips. "I think I ought to get Charlie home, and get him some food while I'm at it. What do puppies eat? Never mind, I can ask in the supermarket."

"So that means you want me to come with you, I suppose?" Rachid asked. "You'll have to leave him outside; you can't take him in."

~.~

The following day, Ashley was just checking the supplies in the ambulance cabinets, re-stocking the missing items, when Rachid looked in.

"Someone's here to see you."

Ash looked out to see Stuart standing by the door, hands stuffed into the pockets of jeans that were just a bit too big for him, fidgeting uneasily.

"Well, aren't you going to go and talk to him?"

His first instinct was to say no and carry on with what he was doing, but Ash jumped down from the back of the ambulance and went over to him.

"They released me. I asked one of the nurses where I could find you and she said it would be okay to come in here. I can go if this is a bad time," Stuart began. "I just wanted to apologise for yesterday. It's nice of you, looking after Charlie, and I really appreciate it. I suppose I'm not used to people doing stuff for me and not wanting anything in return."

When Ash didn't say anything, Stuart shuffled from one foot to the other, occasionally casting suspicious glances toward Rachid who was listening nearby. After a few minutes he turned to leave.

"I should probably go."

Ash watched him walk away, thinking of the expression on Stuart's face when he'd started apologising. It was the similar to the one he'd seen on Charlie's face the previous night when he'd found the puppy sitting near a puddle on the kitchen floor.

"Stuart, wait." The other man stopped, waiting as Ash hurried to catch up with him. "Do you want to come by and see Charlie?"

Stuart nodded, the relief visible on his face. "I've got to go sort a few things out, get some clothes, a room- luckily, I had my wallet in my pocket so I've got cash at least- but I'll come back when you finish work, if that's okay."

He said a hesitant goodbye and set off toward the town centre, leaving Ash to Rachid's curiosity. He knew it was coming, silently counting down as he walked back to the ambulance.

_Two… One…_

"So, that was Stuart."

"You already know it was. You met him yesterday."

Rachid waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, but he was barely conscious then so that doesn't count. You could have introduced us." When Ash didn't answer, walking past him to return to checking supplies, Rachid followed. "He sounded really sorry; what happened when you went to see him yesterday? I'm assuming that's got something to do with it."

Ashley sighed. "What are the chances of you buggering off and letting me get on with my job?"

"Do you even want me to answer that?"

"Fine. I offered Stuart my spare room and he accused me of trying to use the situation to get him to sleep with me in exchange for a place to stay." At least that shut Rachid's questions up for a while, Ash thought, sitting down on the back step of the ambulance. "Do I really come across as the kind of person who'd do something like that?"

Sitting down next to him, Rachid shook his head. "No, and I'm assuming that he doesn't think so either. He really did look apologetic."

He had, Ash agreed, still wondering why he gave a crap in the first place, why it meant so much to him that Stuart didn't think he was a total creep. There was only one answer he could think of and he really didn't want it to be that. Luckily, a call came in over the radio just then, allowing Ash to leave that thought behind.

~.~

That evening, Ash watched as Stuart was reunited with Charlie, the puppy bouncing over excitedly, tail wagging as he licked Stuart's face enthusiastically. Stuart tried his best to hold onto the wriggling puppy but eventually had to put him down.

"Has he been behaving himself? He usually sleeps all night, and he's housebroken." Glancing around to the two plastic bowls on the kitchen floor and the dog toys, he looked back to Ash. "I promise that I'll pay you back for everything."

Ash refilled Charlie's water bowl, scraping some dog food into the bowl on the counter and setting it on the floor as well.

"I know. To be honest, I like having him here; it's nice to have some company in the flat." Realising what he'd said, Ash felt his cheeks heat up and he changed the subject quickly. "How old is he, by the way? I wasn't sure if I could take him for a walk or not."

"He can go for a walk, but he's not too good at walking while on a lead. The last time I tried, he just sat down in the middle of the path and refused to budge."

Stuart stayed for a while, insisting on buying dinner when Ashley suggested a pizza, before reluctantly saying goodbye to Charlie. He gave Ash a piece of paper with the Queen's Hotel logo and phone number printed on it in elaborate gold script.

"This is where you're staying?" Ash asked. That place was expensive.

Stuart shrugged his shoulders. "It was the only place with a room available for tonight."

"It'll cost you a fortune. Look, this is ridiculous," Ash told him. "My spare room is still there- pay me rent if it will make you feel better- and I swear I'm not going to try anything on with you. You'll be saving yourself a lot of cash, and I'm sure Charlie would appreciate you being here."

There was a moment of silence as Stuart considered it, and then nodded. "Thanks. I'm paid up for tonight, though."

"So bring your stuff around tomorrow. I can give you my spare key so you can let yourself in."

Stuart stared at him in amusement. "How do you know that I'm not a thief or a psychopath?"

"Because if you were going to rob me, hurt me, or even strip me naked, tie me up and put me in a cupboard- long story, don't ask- you would have done it the other night while I was asleep, right?"

"Good point. By the way, I'd like to hear that story sometime."

~.~

A week later and Ash sat down with Stuart for dinner. It had become a daily ritual of them taking turns to attempt to cook or, more often, ordering takeaway, then sitting down together. If Ash was on late shifts he went to work, leaving Stuart to look after Charlie. Stuart had been allowed back to the flats but there wasn't anything salvageable at all, the majority of his belonging either destroyed by fire or water damaged. His insurance company were dragging their feet and telling him they had to wait for the fire investigators report before they could act, which meant that he would be staying at Ashley's for a while longer.

Not that Ash minded at all, even when Rachid started teasing him about it.

"It's like a proper relationship," he observed one day. "You living with him. I mean, you've got a dog and everything."

Ashley shook his head. "No, it's like having a flatmate, not a boyfriend. And I don't have a dog; he just lives there temporarily."

Whatever Rachid may think, there was nothing going on. Ash had been careful not to do anything that would lead Stuart to believe that he was interested, even though he was. He liked having Stuart at the flat, liked being able to sit and talk to him, and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardise that.

As it happened, he didn't have a lot of choice in the matter.

They were sitting on the sofa, watching a DVD, when suddenly Stuart grabbed the remote control and hit the pause button before turning in his seat to face Ash.

"You know all that stuff I said to you in the hospital?"

Ash nodded, the little voice in his head swearing furiously as he tried to think of what he'd done to make Stuart start this again. He's going to leave, Ash thought, and that idea made his guts twist. Usually, by this point, having someone living with him would have him trying desperately to find a way to get them to leave but Stuart didn't trigger that response in him.

"Whatever it was that I did, I'm sorry."

Stuart frowned at him in confusion. "What? No! You haven't done anything," he said, realising what Ash meant. He smiled. "Actually, that's kind of the problem."

Now Ash frowned. "Huh?"

"All that stuff about you taking advantage; I know its crap and that you weren't trying to," Stuart told him. "But what if I wanted you to? For fuck's sake, Ash, have you any idea how hard it is to see you every day, see you wandering out of the bathroom after a shower, all damp wearing just a towel, or even just slobbed out in front of the telly, and not jump on you? Oh, fuck this."

Fisting his hand into the front of Ash's shirt, Stuart dragged him closer and kissed him, Ash unresisting. It took a moment to realise that he hadn't fallen asleep while watching the film, and that this wasn't actually a fantasy- not that Ash had spent too long dwelling over exactly what Stuart could be doing to him, no way- but that he could really have Stuart.

Ash smiled, reaching out to slide his fingers around Stuart's neck as he returned the kiss, feeling Stuart's hands begin to roam under his shirt, unbuttoning it slowly.

"Tell me I can have you, Ash. Please."

Ash nodded, still smiling. "You can have whatever you want," he said, and found himself flat on the sofa with an armful of Stuart, the other man's fingers working at his belt buckle.

Stuart had Ashley's jeans open in no time at all, Ash lifting his hips to allow Stuart to tug his jeans down lower.

"Been wanting to do this for a week," he said, curling his fingers around the base of Ash's cock and dipping his head to run his tongue over the head.

Bloody hell, that felt good, Ash thought as Stuart took him into his mouth. Movement caught his eye and he glanced across to see Charlie sitting next to the sofa, watching them. Once he'd seen the puppy, however, he just couldn't stop noticing, no matter how distracting Stuart's actions were. Eventually, he sighed.

"Stuart, Charlie's staring."

Stuart lifted up, Ash's cock slipping from his lips as he glanced at the dog. "He probably just thinks we're making friends."

"Well in that case, he's probably thinking that you're sniffing in the wrong place," Ash pointed out, earning a laugh from Stuart.

"Ignore him."

Ash tried but his gaze kept going back to the puppy with the big brown eyes, watching them.

"I can't, not in front of him."

Stuart rolled his eyes and got off the sofa. "Charlie, you have the worst timing," he told the dog before leaning down to pull Ash to his feet. Ash went to pull his jeans back up but Stuart stopped him. "Leave them. Or better yet, take 'em off. What I've got planned for you doesn't require clothing."

He steered Stuart toward his bedroom, catching a quick grope of Ashley's arse as they went, stripping Ash of the rest of his clothes as soon as the bedroom door was closed behind them.

~.~

"So what's going on with you and mystery man?" Rachid enquired a few days later. "Don't give me any of that 'nothing happening' crap because you've been walking around with that stupid smile on your face for days now."

Ash immediately tried to school his face into something other than a smile, which just made Rachid's grin even wider.

"Aww, you're getting all embarrassed. Does this mean I finally get to meet him properly?"

"Why are you so interested in this?"

"Because in all the time I've known you, this is the first time you've actually got involved beyond a quick shag. You like this bloke, don't you?" Rachid asked. "Just invite him to the pub; you know I'll just turn up at your door one night if you don't," he added.

Ashley sighed, knowing that he'd been defeated. Letting Rachid and Stuart meet at the pub was preferable to Rachid turning up on his doorstep, unexpected, and what if he arrived while they were otherwise occupied? That would just be really awkward. No, the pub was a better option.

"No promises, but I'll ask him."

~.~

"Stuart?"

They were walking along the edge of the park, Charlie trotting along ahead of them on his new extendable dog lead, tail wagging happily as he sniffed about in the grass at anything that caught his attention.

"You can say no if you want to, but Rachid wanted me to invite you to the pub tomorrow night," Ash began. "He wants to meet you when you're not, you know, in an ambulance."

When Stuart didn't answer, Ash gave himself a mental kick. It was too soon to be inflicting his friends on Stuart, leaving him to Rachid's nosy questions, which Ash knew he'd ask even though he'd promised to behave himself.

"Okay."

Ash frowned. "What?"

"I said, okay." He didn't sound particularly comfortable with the idea, though, Ash realised. "What do I call you?" Stuart asked, stopping walking and turning to face Ash. "I mean, what does he think I am? Am I your flat mate, fuck-buddy… boyfriend?"

Now or never, Ash decided. It was time to man up and get this sorted out, right now.

"Would it freak you out if I went for the last option?"

A slow smile spread across Stuart's face. "Weirdly, no."

They started walking again, prompted by insistent tugs on the lead as Charlie continued to explore, Stuart sliding his arm around Ashley's waist. Ash almost pulled away out of habit, never being comfortable with public displays, but something stopped him. Instead, settled in closer against Stuart's side, smiling to himself.

Boyfriend, he thought. He liked the sound of that.

~.~

End.


End file.
